Florida (Vegetarian World)

**Republica d'Florida**
**Republic of Florida**


Official languages	none at the federal level; Catalan widespread
Capital	Tequesta
Largest Metros	Tequesta Tampa Tallahassee
Population	2,944,000
HDI	0.943
Independence	From Occitania and Catalonia - 1891
Currency	Florida Dollar (FLD)
Our Timeline Equivalent	Florida
Location

Florida, formally the Republic of Florida is a nation occupying the Florida Peninsula - the southeastern tip of northern Pemhakamik, bordering the Confederate States of Pemhakamik to the north, the Gulf of Mejico to its west and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to its east.

History[]

Colonization of Florida first began with its aboriginal population over a period of thousands of years. As with all the other aboriginal populations of the New World, the Aboriginal Floridians were the descendents of hunter-gatherers who crossed the Bering land bridge into the new world.

Europeans would not arrive on the shores of Modern day Florida until the mid-1500s. The first Europeans to explore Florida were the Spaniards. Arriving at the height of spring, the Spanish explorers were astounded by all of the beautiful flower blossoms that they saw. The explorers originally named the region La Tierra Florida, which means “The Flowery Earth” in honor of the natural beauty that they witnessed. Unfortunately for those Spaniards who wanted to colonize Florida, the Spanish Crown had little interest in supporting what it viewed to be a giant swamp, especially when it was gaining untold riches from Mejico and other lands. Thus, a small group of privately funded Spanish entrepreneurs founded the city of San Agustín in 1565, and claimed the region of Florida for the Spanish Empire. Because the city received no government funding or even protection, San Agustín floundered until the start of the Terra Novan War in 1589.

For many decades since the discovery of the New World, Spain, and to a lesser extent Portugal, considered the New World a gift from God that only they had the right to own and thus exploit. This attitude angered other nations such as England and Catatania, especially when Spain tried to use brute force to enforce their claims over the New World. Tensions between the Catholic League and the Free League of Europe continued to grow until they exploded over the Spanish Armada’s failed attempt to invade England in 1588. In response to Spanish aggression, both England and Catatania attacked Spain and its closest ally Portugal in 1589. This would soon become known as the Terra Novan War due to the fact that it originated from disputes over Terra Nova, a.k.a. the New World. The Terra Novan War would continue until 1604, the year in which the Treaty of Madrid was signed.

The Treaty of Madrid had dozens of repercussions that would affect the New World until the present day. The biggest repercussion for Florida though was its switch of control from Spain to Catatania. Back in Catatania, fierce debates began to rage over what Florida’s fate should be. The majority of the people wanted to treat Florida much as they had treated Kiskeya, and declare the entire region a “no man’s land.” These individuals considered all forms of colonialism to be immoral, and believed it was ethically wrong to declare ownership over a region that was already inhabited.

A small minority, on the other hand, agreed with most of the majority’s arguments, but argued that partial colonization was needed. They believed that if Catatania had no permanent settlement in the New World, then Catatania would eventually be forced out of the New World by other European nations. These Catatanians also believed that a permanent base in the New World would also allow Catatania to continue activities such as the protection of the Kiskeya from other would-be colonizers.

In addition to those who wanted to use Florida as a means to promote Catatanian interests, a small collection of scholars also wanted to establish a permanent base in Pemhakamik for research purposes. These great men and women were fascinated by both the Floridian wilderness, and the culture of the Aboriginal Floridians. These same people thought that a permanent settlement would give the scholars of Catatania not only a better chance to study the beauty that Florida had to offer, but a chance to better study the entire New World.

A compromise was finally reached in 1610, which today is referred to as the New Barcelona Compromise. Catatania would “officially” control all of Florida, but in reality would only exert control over the small region known as “Greater San Agustín.” The rest of Florida in return would remain untouched by the Catatanians. The reasoning for this was simple. The area of Greater San Agustín had already been under European influence for years, and had an almost non-existent Aboriginal population. Thus, Catatania already had a pre-established settlement to base its New World activities in without having to sacrifice land that had been untouched by Europe. This limitation on colonization would be continued to be strictly enforced until the purchase of the West Florida colony by England from Catatania in 1803.

In 1612, a nationally-funded fleet came to assert Catatanian control over the presumably Spanish-loyalist city of San Agustín. Instead, the people of Catatania discovered something much more pitiful. The city of San Agustín was in an awful state of disrepair due to years of neglect. The sight of the impoverished Spaniards and their failed city touched the fleet’s crew on a deep emotional level. In response, the Catatanians promised the people of San Agustín that they would rebuild San Agustín as one of the great cultural and intellectual centers of the New World. Later that year, the city was renamed New Barcelona, and in 1815, the University of New Barcelona was established. The promise of the first Catatanian-Floridians can still be seen in New Barcelona today. As of now, the city continues to be a popular destination among Pemhakamik and Pacha’s leading artists and scientists.

Florida, as a whole though, continued to remain rather quiet for the rest of the 1600s and most of the 1700s. Relationships between the Aboriginal Floridians and the Europeans remained peaceful, as did the relationship between the Catatanians of Florida and the colonists of New England. The biggest shake up to hit Florida during this time was the Treaty of Paris in 1783. The treaty firmly established the boundaries between the lands of the different European nations. An interesting result of the treaty was the granting of a region of land to Catatania that had been previously known as New Florida. In that same year, Catatania officially declared their new colony as the “Protectorate of West Florida.” This excited much of the Floridian population who ended up considering West Florida an intrinsic part of their homeland.

This happiness was not to last long though. The region of West Florida, despite being off limits to Catatanian colonists, was soon flooded by those from the English colony of Georgia. This flood of immigrants infuriated the vast majority of Floridians who thought the Georgians had no right to invade their homeland. Catatania tried to remove the colonists peacefully from West Florida, but was forced to back down when the Georgians demonstrated they wouldn’t leave without a fight. Believing that any peaceful attempt to exercise control over West Florida would result in failure, Catatania decided to sell West Florida to the English in 1803. This move was viewed by the Floridians as the ultimate betrayal that the mother country could commit. The resulting protests soon lead to the Catatanian government’s decision to open the Florida Panhandle and the western coast north of Tampa Bay to European colonization in attempt to please the European Floridians. This move ended up angering many aboriginal groups instead. By the time the Republic of West Florida was established in 1810, serious discussions about Floridian independence were happening among all Floridian social circles.

By the late 1870s, the people of Florida were fed up with colonial rule. Seeing the same dissatisfaction in Florida that lead to the colonial rebellion in New England, the Catatanian government agreed to give Florida its independence on the condition that independence would only be achieved once Florida’s leaders created a constitution that valued the civil rights and liberties of mankind and nature. Thus, the Floridian Constitution Convention was born.

Surprisingly, the Convention’s most difficult challenge didn’t involve civil rights or liberties. Instead, the Convention's biggest challenge was actually deciding how Florida's administrative divisions should be organized. Since the early 1800s, Florida had generally followed the organization pattern seen in New England’s provinces, where the provinces were divided into counties, SARs, and NPAs. Many members of the convention wanted to continue this trend and treat Florida as if it was a single province. Others wanted to divide Florida into multiple states or provinces and adopt a federation-type government as was seen in New England, and the Confederate States of Pemhakamik. In the end, the Unitary-Government faction won out, and the reorganization of Florida into a collection of counties, SARS, and NPAs commenced. Interestingly enough, the borders of many of the subnational entities wouldn't be completely fixed until the 1920s. Once the Floridian Constitution Convention finished drafting its constitution in 1886, Catatania official declared it would grant Florida its independence in five years. This was done in order to allow Catatania to fully help Florida with its transition from a colony to an independent nation. In 1891, Florida had become the world’s newest nation. The decades after independence were a time of tranquility and prosperity for Florida. The last disputes between the Aboriginals and the Europeans were finally solved with the firm establishment of the SARs and NPAs. During the Pan-Global War, Florida would remain neutral due to the pacifism of its populace, but the republic also provided the Allies with needed resources such as doctors and canned goods. In wouldn’t be until the 1960s that Florida would have its first major crisis as an independent nation.

For the entire world, the 1960s and the 1970s were a time of change. For Florida, an economic boom was happening due to a massive increase in tourism. People from all over the world were trying to enter the country and enjoy its world famous beaches. At the same time, a massive development of Oceanside hotels, condominiums and timeshares began popping up across Florida. Most, if not all, of these places were built only to satisfy the massive increase of tourists. Thus, their designs left a lot to be desired. For example, many made use of the Cheapie or “Box-Arts” architectural style. The majority of these same buildings were also made of shoddy material and were environmental unfriendly. This massive growth of hideous, environmentally unfriendly, and possible unsafe monstrosities horrified the “native” Floridians. Protests against these developments grew in intensity throughout the sixties and seventies. By the time the 1980s and the Modern Renaissance arrived in Florida, tourism had severely decline due to the misconception that the "native" Floridians hated foreigners instead of unplanned development.

Still, the Modern Renaissance proved to be Florida’s saving grace. New ideas were proposed to protect Florida from rampant development, but still allow its people to reap the economic gains of tourism. As a result, the Floridian government came up with the Las Vegas Plan. The Las Vegas Plan was based on the nation of Utah’s handling of the city of Las Vegas. For years, Las Vegas had been a global vacation destination, but the people of Utah didn’t want the city to become the poster child of Urban sprawl. Thus, Utah’s forbid any development outside the city limits of Las Vegas. It was this policy that inspired Florida's Las Vegas Plan.

The Las Vegas Plan’s first course of action was the condemning and destruction of all the profit-driven nightmares that had lead to the plan’s birth. The next course of action was the establishment of a small collection of resort towns and resort districts. These resort towns were new planned communities that existed solely to satisfy the needs of the tourist industry. These towns would all have a unique architectural style, and have the majority of their land be preserved as parks. These towns were also surrounded by additional wilderness preserves in order to prevent any additional expansion without government approval. The most famous of these planned resort communities is known as tbe city of New Valencia Beach. Resort districts functioned much along the same lines as resort towns, but were built in pre-existing cities such as Tampa and New Barcelona. Another change that resulted from Florida’s urban sprawl crisis and the Las Vegas Plan was the creation of one of the world’s strictest immigration policies.

As of 2010, Florida is one of the world’s wealthiest nations, and is also viewed as one of the picturesque countries in the world. Florida has also kept a strong relationship with its mother country Catatania, and the nation of Kiskeya. In terms of politics, Florida is also experiencing the same vegetarian-related debates that nations all over the world are experiencing. Due to Florida’s Catatanian heritage, the nation is viewed globally as a pro-vegetarian nation. Still, Florida’s non-vegetarians and non-vegetarian tourists are becoming more aggressive as Florida's vegetarians begin to promote the possibility of Government Mandated Vegetarianism.

Demographics[]

Vegetarianism[]

68% Vegetarian

32% Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian

22% Vegan Vegetarian

13% Lacto Vegetarian

01% Ovo Vegetarian

32% Non-Vegetarian

Ethnic Groups[]

38% Pemhakamik Aboriginal

34% Floridian Aboriginal

10% Tequesta-Maiyaimi-Calusa

08% Ais-Jaega

06% Timucua-Tocobaga

05% Seminole

02% Appalachee

03% other Floridian

02% Arawak Aboriginal

02% other Pemhakamik Aboriginal

37% European

06% Pachan

02% Oriental

14% mixed ancestry

03% others

Religions[]

58% Nonreligious

30% atheist

28% agnostic

24% Cathar

12% various Aboriginal beliefs

04% Christian

02% other

Languages[]

41% Catalan

28% Occitan

07% Aboriginal Tequesta languages

05% Aboriginal Ais languages

05% English

04% Aboriginal Timucuan languages

03% Aboriginal Muskogee languages (Apalachee, Seminole)

02% Spanish

01% French

01% other Aboriginal languages